Lucky To Be Alive
by Vagabond-Minded
Summary: The Kaminoans have never made a mistake before. Every soldier was made perfect and those that did not make it were never allowed to leave Kamino. So when a mistake is made on the 23rd chromosome, they create a female soldier. They almost destroyed her but General Shaak Ti convinced them to keep her alive. But it's now up to her to find out why. With the help of her brothers though.
1. Prologue

The Kaminoan race is known for perfection and cooperation. Kaminoans focus on little else than their cloning and interact with offworlders as little as possible. They are in charge of the making of clones, a very difficult process for someone with less intellect. To manipulate and clone a complete set of DNA to make everyone look the same is not an easy task.

And sometimes, mistakes are made. Clones are often deformed, morphed, or all brain function ceases before their 3rd growth cycle. But nothing, never in the history of cloning, has there been a mistake much like this. Naga Se is the head of the cloning in sector 40E. The day that one Kaminoan was needed for another task and was cut from their DNA manipulation early, an assistant that remained nameless missed a specific chromosome… The 23rd Chromosome. Usually fitted for X-Y, the Kaminoan made a crucial mistake and gave them X-X.

This was later realized when a test on the clone turned up inconclusive and mass confusion spread through the entire facility. Yuma Fi, specialist of examinations, had determined that the sex given to the clone was accidentally misplaced. No one knew who was at fault and it was the biggest mystery of the facility. Kunu Ra had insisted that they destroy the defective clone. It was a living example of their mistake and failure and wanted no evidence of it to live amongst them. But with the large amount of compassion she had, General Shaak Ti insisted they keep it alive. After all, this has never been done, and it was necessary to see how this would progress.

This clone could be more successful than any other. Kaminoans were not judgmental when it came to sexes. They believed that males and females were equal. But the Kaminoans believe that they are the superior race and are perfectionists to an obnoxious level. So naturally, they treat clones with less respect than they do their own race.

But as a result to General Ti's demand, they sped the clone's growth cycle and waited until it reached full maturity. It resembled a male clone but many differences were to be made. They removed her from the tanks and wrapped her body in thermal bandages, giving her a sense of dignity.

As always there was a tour of the cloning facility done by current ARC troopers stationed on Kamino and they lead new cadets down into sector 40E where the clone was floating in a tank for her very last growth cycle. Short black hair floated around her pristine face and thermal bandages covered her breasts and vaginal area. Her fingers were smaller than the others and her feet smaller than the others.

The cadets walked by her tank and the Trooper stopped at hers specifically.

"This is the first female clone ever made. They made a mistake in her chromosomes and she is on her final growth cycle," All of the cadets ran up to the tank and saw her fingers and toes twitch as her body shook a little in the tank. "Kaminoans wanted to destroy her. But General Shaak Ti insisted that she be kept alive and we will see how she does in testing and on those front lines. For the first time in our history, we will have a sister amongst our ranks."

The cadets stared at her as her body twitched once again and one cadet put his hand on the glass and smiled. "I've always wanted a sister," The tour continued but nothing was more exciting than her tank.

That very night, the Kaminoans drained her tank and prepped for her awakening. She was laid down on a specific operating table and a needle was pushed into her arm to give her the data chip that will define her as a clone. After a few minutes, a stimulant was administered and she jolted awake.

Panting loudly and her hair still covered in liquid from the tank, they checked her vital signs and then they asked her a series of questions.

After scanning her chip, they gave her the number that would define her as her.

"CT-8993, you are the first female clone trooper ever made. And you must live up to expectations."

It was a lot to put on someone that had 'just been born' but it was all clones were forced with. After her release, her growth cycle was slowed and she went into classes to learn everything the cadets had to learn. It only took her a month to learn absolutely everything that was meant for her. Now as a cadet and part of a squad with the rest of her brothers, she was on the road to becoming one of them.

3 months after her creation, she had become one of the fastest learners of the clones. Her mind seemed to retain more information than her brothers did.

CT-8993 was a very smart clone and a powerful woman. And all of her brothers treated her as an equal. Occasionally pulling jokes, smacking her with a towel in the locker rooms, never thinking she was less than them. She was blessed with her squad and couldn't be happier to be in the squad.


	2. Big Mistake

She was no longer CT-8993. She was now Bliss, an honorary member of the Domino Squad. She stood alongside her brothers that were known as CT-21-0408, CT-4040, CT-782, CT-00-2010, and CT-27-5555. Bliss loves her brothers from the bottom of her heart. But sadly, her squad lacks a basic word called unity.

The Domino Squad can never really come together as a team. For many weeks, Bliss blamed herself for their fall. But it was reassured by all of her brothers that she was not to blame. Their lack of conviction was to blame.

Today was a big day for her squad and Bliss was excited. When she woke up, she moved to the locker rooms and refreshers immediately to clean herself up. A few of her brothers had woken up before her and were already washing up under the showers. Bliss hung her towel out of water's reach and turned on one of the shower heads and let the hot water wash her stress and sleep sweat away.

No one in the barracks believed that being in the shower like this with their sister was wrong. The Bounty Hunter in charge of the Domino Squad, though, didn't approve. He thought that the men in the showers will lose their mind being around a woman in such an intimate state and try to attack her.

But it never happened. And no cadet ever thought of her that way. They all thought she was a beautiful woman, yes. The best clone ever manufactured. But that's all the more reason to protect her and keep her safe. Everyone believed her to be their sister and would never hurt her in any way. So they did everything together. There was never a need of a woman's refresher in the barracks before she arrived, and there won't be a need for one after she graduates.

Bliss looked up at the shower head and then down at her hands. Her fingers twitched anxiously and her legs trembled a little. Her heart raced in her chest when she realized what today was. Her thought process was stopped, of course, when she heard someone call her name.

"Bliss!" She looked over at one of her squad members, CT-782. Bliss rolled her eyes and turned back to the water, washing her perfect brown skin to get herself clean.

"Ready for today?"

"I'm ready for anything," Bliss said, fooling even herself as she wiped some of the water off her skin and scratched an itchy place on her arm. CT-782 stood next to her under a separate faucet and snorted at her response.

"You talk a big game, Bliss. But I know you're nervous,"

"Nervous?" Bliss seemed insulted by this accusation. She ran her fingers through her short black hair and stared into CT-782's golden eyes. Her eyes were the same color but a shade brighter than his.

"Yeah. You're more advanced than all of us, but newer than anyone here. You're only a few months sprouted and yet you're the best trooper that the General has seen," It sounded to Bliss that her brother was jealous. But she knew better than to play with a spongeworm without protective headgear. So she wouldn't agitate, CT-782, a heavy weapons expert.

"I don't pretend to know what I do, CT-782. I'm just here to learn, graduate, and play my part to end this war. I don't have time to be nervous about the Citadel challenge."

"The Citadel Challenge is our last challenge, Bliss. Don't tell me you don't have to worry or be nervous about it."

"But I don't, CT-782. I'm sure it'll be a snap,"

"I'm sure that isn't true! Don't mess up our chances of passing, Bliss. Don't mess up _my_ chances of passing!"

CT-782 threatened her, pushing her up against the wall of the showers and stared into her golden eyes. Bliss snarled.

"Don't threaten me, brother," Bliss said, punching his chest to get him off of her.

"I'm not afraid to hit a girl,"

"Neither am I!" Bliss shouted in his face. Then CT-782 snapped.

"That's it!" With that, he tackled his sister to the soaking wet shower floor, punching her in the jaw. Bliss felt the hard sting of his fist and brought up her knee to his crotch, kicking him off of her and into the wall. She stood up, grabbed him by the arm and slammed him into the ground. He shouted angrily and used his extra muscle and weight against her, flipping over and throwing her across the floor.

Bliss hit her head against the concrete and felt her entire body shake with the impact. Several of her brothers saw the brawl and kept trying to pull them apart but it didn't seem to be working.

Bliss wrestled with her brothers and tackled CT-782 to the ground, trying to drown him in a puddle of water.

But everything halted when she heard a loud booming voice in the showers. " _Knock it off_!" But Bliss didn't stop. He started this fight; she will finish it.

It was their Master Chief, Bric. The bounty hunter ran across the room and picked the naked girl up off of her brother and held her up by her stomach.

"This isn't over, 782! You hear me?!" She screamed as Bric dragged her out of the locker room.

After they were both out of the locker room and into a private room, Bric threw her down onto the bench and stared at her in the eyes angrily.

"What in hell's name were you thinking?!" He shouted in her face.

"I was thinking that I needed to put that bastard in his place!"

Bric huffed and kneeled down getting closer in her face. "This is an academy! It's not a wrestling ring, you idiot!"

Bliss flinched and looked away, feeling the now cold water dripping down from her hair and onto her chest. Bric angrily growled and threw a towel at her face. Bliss halfway caught it and gave him a dirty look.

"Get dressed, clone. And try not to break any faces on the way back to the barracks!" He shouted. Bliss stood up and wrapped the towel around her body tightly. She halfheartedly saluted him and nodded.

"Yes, sir."

"Out of my sight, cadet."

Bliss huffed after she was out of the door and walked back to the barracks in the nude with nothing but a towel. Once she got back and was surrounded by her brothers that didn't just try to beat her head in, she felt more at peace. Bliss toweled herself off quickly, drying off the hair on her head and between her legs before rubbing the soft towel across her stomach and chest, dropping it to the ground and opening her locker.

Bliss pulled on her jumpsuit and zipped it up in the back quickly, relaxing into the comfortable feel of the suit. It compressed around her stomach and muscular legs comfortably to protect her, even in her specially made armor. Bliss ran her fingers over the breast hollow in her chest plate and began to strap it onto herself. She pulled on her leg guards and carefully strapped the crotch plate into place.

Bliss looked at her squad who was doing the exact same thing as her but having a little more difficulty. She pulled on her armored shoes and then her arm guards with her black gloves with a plate over the top of her hands.

There was a silence as she saw CT-782 walk across the lockers and towards his own, opening it silently. Bliss looked down, away from her brothers eyes and stared at her gloved hands. She's caused more than one fight in her time here and she didn't ever mean to. Things just… happen around her. And nothing ever gets easier.

Bliss sat down on the bench and brought her knees up to her face, sighing deeply.

"So, I'm guessing that fight was you two?" CT-27-5555 said nonchalantly as he pulled on his arm guards. Bliss flinched a little bit.

"Yeah. I guess… things just got out of hand," Bliss muttered, looking down at her hands.

"Don't act all innocent, Bliss. You called me a girl!" CT-782 snapped.

"You called me one!" Bliss said, jumping up and getting in his face.

"Bliss, you are a girl," CT-4040 inquired, cutting off the fight. "Literally. You are the only sister we have. The only girl to be made," He punched her armored shoulder. "Take pride in that."

Bliss sighed and looked down at her feet. "I'm sorry. I guess… I don't know. I'm not taking it with as much pride as I used to. I should be happy that I was created specially but I know I wasn't. It was just a mistake,"

"Is that what their telling you, Bliss?" CT-00-2010 stepped up to her and put his hand on her shoulder. "That you were a mistake?"

"That's what they all say. Everyone believes I was a mistake. I wasn't planned to be a girl. If they hadn't messed with my genetically altered DNA and gave me the right 23rd chromosome, I would have been… a male. And I can't imagine life being a male and not a female."

"They're wrong, Bliss. And deep down, you know it."

"Do I, CT-00-2010? I'm not so sure anymore," With that, Bliss put on her helmet and sighed before picking up her E-11 Blaster Rifle and checking it a little bit before slinging it over her shoulder, putting the safety on.

"I need to speak to General Ti. I'll be back in a few," Bliss slowly walked out of the barracks and down the halls of the bright Kamino facility. She made a few turns down the corridors and approached the front doors to General Ti's quarters but was stopped by a Kaminoan.

"Excuse me, clone. Where do you think you are going?" The male Kaminoan inquired, staring into Bliss's eyes. She gulped and took her helmet off to look the creature in the eyes.

"Excuse me, sir. I just need to speak to the General. I won't be more than a few minutes."

"If you do, you leave your weapons out here." He said to her, pointing one of his three fingers at the weapon she carried. Bliss realized this was standard procedure and mentally slapped herself for not remembering.

"Oh… Of course, sir." She placed her weapon and her helmet on the ground and sighed deeply before gently knocking on the door. Her response was the door swishing open and General Shaak Ti had her back to the door. The door swished shut and Bliss cleared her throat awkwardly.

"General Ti?"

"I know why you are here, Bliss."

There was shock written on her face. Yes, Miss Ti was a Jedi and probably knew this already, but whatever happened to the element of surprise?

Bliss bit her lip hard and looked down at her hands sighing deeply. "General, I need to know… Why me?"

General Ti turned around, her beautiful pristine face was written with concern and a hint of confusion.

"Everyone always says that you were the one to fight for my survival. That you are the only reason I was kept alive instead of destroyed. I must know why you did."

"Why do you believe it to be important, Bliss?" General Ti said, staring into her eyes. Bliss sighed and ran a hand through her messy black hair.

"Because I was supposed to be male, correct? I was supposed to be ordinary. Nothing more than another soldier on the frontlines fighting and dying for this war! My brothers say I'm not a mistake. That all clones were made perfect and exactly how they need to be. It isn't true, is it? I was a mistake and nothing more. The bounty hunter calls me a defect. Am I just a defect? Nothing more than a mistake in the DNA manipulation? I don't know anymore!"

Bliss hadn't realized she was shouting until she looked at General Ti in the eyes. Her face remained emotionless but shined with compassion and deep value for her life.

"Bliss, if you must know, your DNA was incorrectly made, yes. But that does not mean that it was a mistake. You are made the way you are and you are perfect. Like every clone before you. And every clone after you. You are not a defect, and I do not permit you to continue to think that way."

Bliss looked into General Ti's eyes and nodded a few times, stunned by her words.

"As for your DNA, it was accidentally changed. Or so we believe. No one knows who is responsible for the change so it very well could have been an accident or maybe someone meant for you to turn out this way."

Bliss broke eye contact with General Ti for a few seconds and thought it over. Who would purposely mess with her DNA? Surely it was just a mistake…

"But for now, I want you to focus on your test, Bliss. Few clones pass when they have so much on their mind," General Ti stepped forward and placed her hand on her armored shoulder. Bliss stared into the General's warm eyes and bowed her head.

"Thank you General. I will do as you wish," She saluted her and pressed the control panel on the side of the door, watching it swish open before swishing shut behind her. Bliss picked up her blaster and began to walk her way towards the barracks.

It's time for her very first practice test for the Citadel; The most difficult challenge; the last challenge before graduation. Bliss would be lying if she said she wasn't nervous.

Bliss will not go down in history as the female clone that did not graduate.


	3. DISCLAIMER FOR MY LOVELIES!

Hello my friends! I would like to take this little time to talk about my temporary hiatus.

For those who don't really enjoy this story, this won't be an issue. But those who like this story a lot, this might be upsetting.

So, as a high school student, school and writing is hard to balance, and since I've been writing so much, it's affected my school work. So until my grades get pushed up beyond failing, I won't be writing for a while. Thank you all for being so patient with me!

Shout out to a very special reader of mine, **TMNTPRO15!** I love writing for people just like you! Those who support my creativity and love what I do! I accept constructive criticism, but no flames please.

I hope to see you all again in the very near future! Thank you guys so much! Stay Excellently Different!


	4. GOOD NEWS, MY LOVELIES!

**GOOD NEWS, MY LOVELIES! MY TEMPORARY HIATUS IS OVER! I GOT MY GRADES UP AND NOW I'M BACK TO WRITING!**

 **I KNOW, HASN'T BEEN LONG ENOUGH TO YOU GUYS. YOU'RE GLAD YOU GOT A BREAK FROM MY DRIBBLE, BUT! YOU GUYS ARE STUCK WITH ME.**

 **LOVELIES, YOU WILL GET ALL MY SAPPY FANFICTIONS!**

 **THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH! STAY EXCELLENTLY DIFFERENT!**


	5. Gossip?

_Well, this sucks!_ Bliss was fumbling around the entire course, ducking behind barriers and aiming at programmed drones. Now she realized why men are better for the battle field than women. Getting shot in the chest hurts! Even if it is just an electric shock… The second that Bliss was shot, an electric shock ran through her entire armored body and immobilized her. She fell to the ground as the third to be taken down.

The rest was just a blur… After only about 7 minutes, the test had ended… And they had failed it. CT-4040 had placed a hand on her back and helped her up to stand on her own two feet. She was still a bit shaky, but was fine. Very slowly, Bliss reached for her blaster and lifted it over her shoulder, breathing slowly.

"I would say that was a good training run," CT-4040 said, punching Bliss in the shoulder. Bliss punched him back and growled.

"No, it wasn't. We suck!" She said, slinging her blaster over her shoulder and taking off her helmet in anger. CT-4040 rolled his eyes. Bliss was always the blunt one when it came to bad news. She and CT-782 had that in common; that and being extremely hot-headed, though Bliss hides it well.

CT-21-0408 scampered across the training ground and toward Bliss. Bliss immediately stopped in her tracks and stopped her brother. "And _you_ ," She snapped. "Stop repeating orders when we all hear it on our helmet sets!" Bliss smacked her hand against the side of her helmet in her hand where the communicator was.

"You sound like an echo that just won't stop!" Bliss marched off without her brothers and CT-782 lifted his heavy weapon off the ground, slinging it over his shoulder. He watched Bliss stomp off and huffed in disapproval.

"Hot head," He muttered, walking towards the barracks.

When the rest of her squad reached their lockers, she was already out of her armor and in a tank top with black tight pants and simple black laced shoes. "I'm going to the gym," Was all she said before stalking off towards the gym. Various machines and test weapons were laid out and the mat in the middle of the room was for special sparring matches.

Bliss laid down on one of the machines and began to lift her weights, breathing slowly as she did so. _Stupid training grounds. Stupid bounty hunter chiefs. Stupid ignorant CT-782. Stupid echo boy!_

It was clear as day that Bliss was very agitated. Sweat pooled down her face and gathered at her chest and underarms, and on her back. But she ignored the slipperiness from the handle bar on the weight, and kept pressing, hoping her exercise will melt the stress away. And if not, sparring definitely will.

But her concentration was broken when she heard talking from outside of the gym.

"-First female clone ever created, yes. But it seems that no one knows why she was made," She could hear Nala Se from the halls, but who was she talking to. And then she heard another voice.

"So you are unsure how she was created? How someone incorrectly manipulated her DNA?" That didn't sound like anyone she's ever heard before. Bliss put her weights down and headed towards the doors.

What she saw was a dark skinned man with no hair and was wearing traditional Jedi Robes and had a lightsaber attached to his side. Jedi Mace Windu, she recognized. All those late nights studying in the library were a boost in the field of the Jedi Generals. Her favorite, though, was General Obi-Wan Kenobi. He was always so nice when it came with his troopers and he didn't consider them as expendable life. Most Jedi felt this way. All except one in particular that she doesn't even want to think of serving under.

Bliss stood on the side, behind the doorway.

"I can assure you, Master Jedi, this will be one of the finest soldiers we have ever engineered. And she will serve her purpose well," Nala Se said in her usual monotone voice. Bliss pressed her lips together and studied the Master Jedi, Mace Windu. He put his index finger and thumb on his chin and thought of something.

"I do believe she is a soldier that would have the undeniable pleasure of serving a great Jedi Master," Mace Windu decided. "I'm sure Master Kenobi will be very pleased to see how far these clones have come."

"Very well, Master Jedi," Nala Se agreed, bowing slightly. Bliss felt her eyebrows crease into a concerned look. Master Kenobi? But she was to be part of the 501st; with her brothers in arms. Was she being reassigned?

Bliss had this on her mind the entire walk from the gym to the barracks where her teammates still sat up, chatting idly. She gently dropped the towel and ran her hands through her bangs, rough and callused for a woman, but perfect for a soldier.

Bliss turned and sat on the bench, looking down at her fingernails. They were beginning to grow again and she hated it when her fingernails grew passed the flesh. She got out her nail trimmer and gently tweaked the mechanism inside. A laser began to cut her fingernails gently down below the flesh and she did this for every finger, careful not to mess up or she night burn herself with the light blade.

She finished with her right pinkie and put the trimmer away, staring down at her hands once again. There were a few little scars on her knuckles and a small blister on the heel of her hand; the tiny scars from all her days beating up the droids in the shooting range. She had the hardest time aiming through the durasteel armored plating and she just lost it, going stuck-mynock wild on the droid at the end of the range. She got lashed out at for a whole 4 days by Bric.

Bliss turned around to look at her brother, CT-21-0408. He sat down next to her on the bench and smiled. "Hi, Bliss,"

"Hey, Echo," She said, smirking. CT-21-0408 scowled at her remark. "I am _not_ an echo."

"Sure you are!" Bliss said, slapping her arm around his shoulder, giving him a genuine smile. "Sometimes, echoes are good things. Let's you know just how far into hell you can go."

CT-21-0408 looked down at his feet in response. "If that was supposed to make me feel better, it didn't work."

"Yeah… I'll get better at that," Bliss sighed and removed her arm, placing her hands in her lap. Comfortable seconds of silence passed before Bliss spoke.

"I might be reassigned when we graduate,"

That got CT-21-0408's attention. "Wait, what?!"

"I heard Nala Se and Master Jedi, Mace Windu talking about me. The Master Jedi said that 'Master Kenobi' will be happy to see how far cloning has come… Master Jedi Kenobi isn't with the 501st… I might be reassigned to the Third Systems Army, which included the 212th Attack Battalion and Ghost Company,"

"You can't get reassigned!" CT-21-0408 said, jumping up in hysteria. "You were going to serve the 501st! With your brothers! With us!" He gestured to the Domino Squad and Bliss just shrugged.

"Maybe I won't get reassigned, CT-21-0408. I hope I don't… But if it happens, I have a duty to follow. No matter who it's under, I will serve them well." Then she looked around at the bunker like barracks they were in.

"If we ever get off this floating coffin," There was a laugh from her brother and he casually walked towards his locker, checking the contents once more to make sure everything was in its proper place. If there's one thing CT-21-0408 was known for, it was being incredibly, almost annoyingly thorough.

Bliss was too preoccupied with her weapons and checking her armor for any dents that could slow her down that she didn't notice a shadow looming over her from behind. Bliss put down her weapon and turned around seeing her brother, CT-782. She sighed and continued to look over her weapon.

"What do you want?" Bliss muttered, rubbing her very sore and still bruised jaw. She had a giant bruise on her jaw and her bum and shoulder from the fight this morning. It was stupid, Bliss knew this. But Bliss had a very low self-esteem, if any at all. So she decided to stand up for herself, even though CT-782 was the one at fault here.

"Uhm… Hey," He said, awkwardly. Bliss sighed and stood up, a few inches shorter than him in height. She had to look up to look into his eyes.

"You come to hit me again, brother?"

"N-No! I haven't… I wanted to apologize," Bliss didn't expect that.

"You do?"

"Yes, Bliss… I didn't mean to um… To kick your ass," Bliss snorted.

"I kicked your ass, thank you very much."

CT-782 growled a little with anger and rolled his eyes. "Well, whatever! The point is… I'm sorry,"

Bliss ran her hands through her short hair and just smiled; Smiled that smile that all of her brothers found comforting and reassuring. The smile of their sister and they knew it was genuine and happy.

"I forgive you… But you need to work on your punch… You hit like a bi-"

"Watch your mouth, Bliss!"


	6. Clone Cadets Begin

_Hello, my lovelies! First of all, I am SO SORRY this took so freaking long! My life has been a complete roller coaster of emotions and it's been way too hard to find time and write something. But, I got back to it and I'm proud of myself! This chapter might be a little strange because it will be in line with the Episode of Clone Cadets! And I would like to give so so so much credit to a wonderful lovely, ZabuzasGirl! She has given me so many wonderful ideas for this chapter and I would like you all to thank her personally for this chapter! If this chapter sucks… I'm sorry. I'll try my best! Love you guys!_

* * *

The one thing everyone in the barracks heard at 0600 hours was Bliss' profanities. She cursed up a storm, her bruises hurting even worse than yesterday, now feeling the full extent of her injuries. All her brothers could do was ask 99 to get her some special salve to help her bruises.

99 returned with the salve and helped Bliss in applying it in places. She rubbed the salve on her face and her lower half before capping it and handing it back to him.

"Bliss, why not just use some bacta rub?" CT-4040 asked Bliss, grabbing his towel for his shower. Bliss scowled and went into her own locker for her own towel.

"Do you know how much of that stuff I use? You know why there's a shortage on Bacta? Me," Bliss pointed at herself with her thumb and sighed, rubbing her sore jaw.

"Guess I'll have to tough it out. Last practice test, anyways."

Bliss and her squad all went to the refreshers and showered in silence. They returned and prepped themselves for their last practice test on the Citadel Challenge. Bliss zipped up her black body stocking and began strapping the durable armor plating to her legs and hips. The chest plating was still awkward to her but she was living with it.

Bliss strapped on her shoulder plates and began to comb her hair. Before she could tie it back so it will be out of the way, she reached for her black ribbon and tied her hair back, securing it in place and pulling on her helmet. CT-00-2010 was practically bubbling with excitement.

"I can't wait to open fire on those tin cans! It'll be like shooting broken winged shyracks!"

Bliss and her brothers all made noises of disgust. "Bro, that's cruel!"

"Yeah, what's the deal?" CT-21-0408 said, flinching slightly at the image. Bliss had finally dubbed him as Echo, due to all the command repeating he does.

Bliss stood up and wrapped her arm around his shoulders. "Ready for this, Echo?"

"Stop calling me that, Bliss!" He scowled, crossing his arms. Bliss smirked and prodded him with her fingers.

"But it's fun! You can't make me stop," She said, cracking her knuckles and reaching for her weapon.

Before they knew it, it was time for them to take their practice test. Bliss stood behind all of her brothers at the entrance of the lift where Bric and El-Les stood.

"When those doors open, you are no longer cadets. You are troopers, fighting. So, try to take it seriously. I'm looking at you, Bliss," Bric said, making Bliss scowl under her helmet but ignore his side comment. The doors to the lift opened and Bliss checked her gun one last time before jumping onto the lift with her brothers.

"Hey guys," CT-27-5555 said out loud. "Can you do me a favor? Call me Fives from now on,"

"Why?" CT-4040 asked.

"It's shorter and sounds cooler," They all just agreed with it. They reached the top of the training ground and the first one to jump in head first was CT-782, as usual. CT-4040 and Fives ran behind a guard and kept their heads down while Bliss and Echo and CT-00-2010 ran for a larger guard.

They were immediately getting pelted with blasts from the droids in the command station above where they were. Bliss would not reveal it but she was in absolute and _horrible pain!_

The bruises were starting to really hurt now that it was rubbing against the body stocking and her armor and she was just limping in a run, trying to hide from the blaster bolts heading for her own head. The minute she jumped up to fire at a droid, she saw a blaster bolt whiz for her face. She squeaked in fear and ducked down, letting it pass over her.

"I hate droids!" Bliss shouted, jumping up and opening fire on the droids coming to take them out.

" _I hate them!_ " She screeched loud enough to make her entire team want to cover their ears.

"Bliss, shut it!" Fives yelled, putting his hand to the side of his helmet and his features scrunched up in pain. Bliss heard the yelling back and placed her hand on her head.

Bliss began to feel dizzy from the pain and she decided to sit on her knees behind a guard for a few seconds, just to catch her breath. No one paid any mind to her and let her rest for a few seconds. She heard someone next to her yell out.

"You're clear, you're clear!" The team split up again and Bliss zoned in just as a blaster bolt came in contact with her hand. Bliss screamed in shock and shook the numb feeling away in her hand and lifted herself over the barricade to open fire once more.

"Cover fire!" CT-782 demanded they offer cover for him and Bliss followed suit before she heard the echo of the command in her headset.

" _This is command. You must break through enemy lines and take the tower."_ And, as always, Echo chimed in to repeat the exact same thing.

"Comlink just relayed orders from-"

"We all heard the orders, Echo!" Bliss snapped, lining up a droid with the crosshairs of her rifle.

"Stop calling me that!" Echo snapped, Bliss refusing to let it go. CT-00-2010 snapped back so he would accept his fate.

"Stop repeating every order!" He said, sighing audibly in the headset. Bliss rolled her eyes and ducked down before she could be shot in the head. And she then pulled down CT-00-2010 down behind the barricade and smirked as a cluster of blaster bolts zoomed right where his head was.

"Careful, brother," She said, smirking as she held her gun up. He responded, "Thank you!"

"Less yappin', more blastin'!" CT-782 screamed, lifting his heavy weapon up and taking his blaster bolts out on the top row of the droids, hitting three out of the cluster of four. "Let's smoke these com-dons, and move on to the citadel!"

"CT-782, you're breaking formation!" Echo said, frowning.

"Just follow my lead, will ya?" CT-782 chortled, making Bliss bite her lip in concern.

CT-782 bolted forward and mowed down clankers with his heavy weapon.

"He's clearing a path!" CT-00-2010 said out loud, following behind CT-782. "I'm moving!" That was a wrong move on his part. He followed behind CT-782 but didn't stick closely enough and he was almost the easiest target among everyone in the squad. Bliss lifted her head above the barricade and opened fire just as she saw a giant shockwave headed for CT-00-2010. Fives jumped towards him and tackled him behind the barricade.

"Thanks CT-27-5555," He said, still using his full CT number, not learning like the other parts of the squad. "That was close!"

"It's Fives," He snapped at CT-00-2010. "The name is _Fives_!"

Bliss crouched down and rolled behind the cover of the barricade, pulling down on Fives' arm to push him below the barricade.

"Your name is gonna be 'Pieces' in 2 seconds if you don't keep your head down!" She shouted, protecting her brothers and getting shot at once more. She got hit in the side of the shoulder just slightly and felt a small shock through her armor. "Blast it!"

"How about, we follow orders!" Echo said, just trying to piss everyone off. "This is our last practice test-"

"Will you shut up with the instructions?" Fives snapped. "You're not in charge!"

"None of us are!" Bliss shouted, loud enough for even the Generals to hear. "That's why we have to freaking listen to each other! This happened last time and we all failed! Miserably!" Bliss felt her temper raging once more and she took out one of the guard tower droids.

From above the training ground, General Ti and the chiefs watched their arguments and bickering back and forth. Not to mention how they continued to struggle against the enemy. It wasn't cooperation in the least.

"This particular unit seems to have some trouble," General Ti said in a calm manner, watching the squad from below the viewpoint. "What do you recommend?" She looked to Bric, the hard bounty hunter to her left.

"Well, I'm no Jedi, so forgive my bluntness," Bric began. He had a habit of saying what he thought and not caring about the consequences. "But I say; they fail. Send them down to maintenance with 99 and the other rejects."

"We can't fail them yet!" El-Les, the bounty hunter to General Ti's right demanded. The Arconan had a passion for training these soldiers and a very good heart. He valued the clones higher than just an engineered piece of humanity, unlike Bric.

"This is only a practice test!" El-Les pushed on. "And besides, the Citadel Court was designed to be a difficult challenge!"

"Although I don't agree with his sentiment," _Or lack thereof_ General Ti thought. "Bric isn't wrong. These cadets are far from ready."

Down back on the training ground, CT-4040 was getting a bit impatient for a clearing to open. "I can't see anything from here!" He bolted for it and Fives went behind him to find a better advantage point.

"No!" Echo said. "We have to follow orders!" He stood to his feet, trying to stop them but ultimately got shot in the chest, a shock powerful enough to render him unconscious. He was out.

"The one they call 'Echo', never adapts to the situation." General Ti declared, following up on all the cadets.

CT-782 pulled ahead, taking out droids as they approached, but refused to look over his shoulder to see if what he was doing was tactical or not. It ended with a blast in the back and him falling to the ground. CT-782 was out.

"CT-782 seems to follow his own path," El-Les decided. "He can't do it all alone.

CT-00-2010 and Fives hid behind a barricade and waited for opportunity to strike. "You go, I'll cover you." CT-00-2010 told Fives.

"I'm a better shot!" Fives declared. "You go!"

"No, you go." They were too busy arguing that they didn't notice that they were being flanked. They were out.

"Look at those two; argue on the battlefield, you end up dead." Bric snapped. "Oh! And the last two,"

Bliss hid behind her barricade with CT-4040. "I think our time is up, brother!" She said, standing up and opening fire again. CT-4040 didn't pay attention to his flank and he was slowly being surrounded. Bliss noticed this and halted fire, jumping up and abandoned her weapon.

"CT-4040, behind you!" She shouted, leaping in front of the blaster fire and taking a shot for CT-4040. The blast hit her in the chest and she felt the pulse writhe through her body and she collapsed on her side, her helmet falling off in the tumble and her hair shielding her vision.

"Bliss seems to put her fellow cadets safety above all others…" General Ti said, eyeing the female clone in curiosity. "That will ultimately cost her in the end. Her life in this war might be short lived."

"Then we hold her back." Bric snapped with his lifeless voice.

CT-4040 finally gave when he was shot in the hand, his blaster sliding across the training ground. He saw all the droids surround him and Bliss' body as she lay there, unconscious. He stood up and raised his hands in the air. "I surrender; I surrender!"

"Need I say more?" Bric said, so sure of himself and his heartless ways.

"If these cadets cannot get passed their short-sighted selfishness, or in Bliss' case, being too selfless… They will never come together." There was truth in General Ti's words. A woman like her who has seen many more wars and fights than these two bounty hunters, knows what she is saying.

"Unity wins war gentlemen. Computer: End exercise for Domino Squad."

Bliss felt her strength slowly come back as she heard General Ti's voice over the intercom. " _99, will you please send a cleaning crew to the training ground."_

Bliss stood up, her legs shaking as she did so and fell back down on the ground, her head coming in contact with the hard durasteel floor. "Damn it!" She swore and got on her knees, rubbing her very sore skull.

"Need a hand?" She looked up at CT-4040 who had his hand stretched out to her. Bliss smirked and felt herself get pulled up by his upper body strength and smiled.

"Thanks, brother." She said, rubbing her neck.

"We almost had it that time," CT-00-2010 said, taking off his helmet.

"Oh yeah," CT-4040 said, rolling his eyes. "And we all look nothing alike either."

"Sorry about the mess, 99." CT-782 told the old clone in maintenance. That is the class of clones that didn't pass and were stuck on Kamino their whole lives. They are wasted in the war; useless clones, as the Kaminoans say.

"Uh, it's okay boys," 99 said, dragging away a droid. "Nice try!" Bliss always thought it was sweet how much the old man cared. Living a life around his brothers who are still in training, knowing that they will soon go on to fight in the war that he never made it to; it must break his heart.

Bliss removed her armor very carefully, looking over her body for new burn marks and sighed with anger. He rubbed her sore shoulder and her chest, pulling on her jumpsuit and red pants. She didn't want to pull on her shirt very much so she could let the burns breathe. She tossed the shirt back into her locker and began to climb up the ladder to open up her bed so she could lie down.

She heard CT-4040 and Fives talking on the way up. Clearly, CT-4040 was trying to sell himself as a ladies man.

"So I says to her, 'baby, you and me could really-"

"You've never even met a girl!" Fives said, calling BS immediately to his fake story. Bliss knocked Fives in the shoulder with her foot.

"Hey! What am I to you?" She said, leaning against her bed and crossing her arms. "Jerk."

"Sorry, Bliss." Fives said, not really meaning it.

She made a noise of protest and rubbed her shoulder a little bit, sighing inward. Always gonna be the butt of every joke in this squad. She couldn't wait until graduation day. The real test begins _tomorrow_ and Bliss is very much ready. Or she keeps trying to tell herself she's ready but she's freaking out inside.

From down below, she heard the loud clatter of CT-782 throwing his helmet on the ground at 99's feet. The old man picked it up for him.

"You know, you shouldn't worry," He told CT-782. "Because most clones pass."

"Yeah, but not all of us, right shorty?" CT-782 patted 99 on the head and the old man averted eye contact with him, looking away.

Bliss crawled into her bed and yawned, closing her eyes for a split second and was interrupted by Echo's loud mouth.

"Guys, we've got to follow orders; come on!" He yelled at the four. CT-00-2010 was making his way up the ladder and stopped just above Bliss' bunk. She peeked out from her sleeping cubby and glared down at Echo.

"I don't know," CT-4040 said, smiling. "I think it went rather well." That was optimism if Fives ever heard it. Also a terrible joke.

"Quit jokin' around!" He snapped at CT-4040.

CT-00-2010 was so tired that he had no room for arguments tonight. "Can we please stop arguing?" He begged.

"Can _you_ stop being droid bait out there?" CT-782 said, glaring up at CT-00-2010. "You're getting in my way!"

"Actually, _our_ way." Fives looked up at CT-00-2010. Bliss looked down at her squad members.

"Guys, this is a group effort! We all have to look out for each other!" She said, flopping back down on her bed and putting her arms behind her head. "That's what the best of the soldiers does!"

"You wanna be the best?" CT-782 said as CT-00-2010 opened his sleeping cubby. "Then you gotta think like it! And I'm thinking like an ARC trooper."

"ARC troopers _follow orders_!" Echo said, glaring CT-782 down.

"Yeah, really." Bliss snorted.

"Care to repeat that, _Echo_?" It was true that he hated his nickname but it wasn't always a bad thing.

But Echo just knocked into CT-782's shoulder, making him stumble back and stagger a little. CT-782 was having none of that and he grabbed the cadet by the shoulder, both of them getting into a fight.

"Hey guys! Come on! Stop it!" Everyone screamed at them. Bliss was out of her bed in an instant, completely ditching the ladder and jumped in between the both of them. She pushed on their shoulders, trying to get the fight to stop but instead, she earned a punch in her already bruised jaw by Echo.

Bliss jumped back from the fight that was still going on and then finally stopped, due to Bric's interference.

"Cut it out! If you two would focus on fighting droids as much as you do fighting each other, you might stand a chance out there!" He lashed out. Bliss held her face in pain and slid down the locker walls. That was much harder than CT-782 from earlier. Damn, Echo could punch.

"Sorry, Master Chief," Echo said, feeling so much shame for his actions but not even realizing what he had done to Bliss.

"Well, _Master Chief,_ maybe our problem comes from our training," CT-782 said, glaring his superior down. "I'd rather be taught by a Jedi than some mercenary Bounty Hunter!"

"Jedi don't have the time to train grunts like you," Bric pushed on CT-782's armor with two fingers. "That's why they hired _me_!"

Bliss continued to stay put on the ground, shaking a little bit as the pain was overpowering. Not to mention, the Siniteen always scared the crap out of her. It's always nice to be taught by someone you're scared of, huh?

Everyone left their beds and formed a circle around Bric.

"Listen cadets! When you were assigned to me, I had high hopes for you! Now we're approaching the end of your training and you haven't advanced _nearly_ enough. Even this bad batch, 99, has more sense than you guys have, and he's a maintenance clone!" Bric lectured, making 99 feel more ashamed of himself than he already was.

"You- you don't give them enough credit," 99 stuttered, looking down at the floor in shame.

"You're all a waste of my time," Bric huffed. "Someone look at her, will you? So she'll stop whining!" He directed a finger in Bliss' direction as she continued to shake on the floor.

Fives was the first one to her side. "Bliss, what's wrong?" He said, making her look up at him. "Are you okay?"

"It hurts… Damn it, it hurts so bad!" Bliss said, kicking her feet against the ground. She felt a warm liquid on her fingers as it dripped from her nose. It was bleeding.

"That's it, we're getting you some bacta, now." Fives demanded. CT-4040 ran to her side and helped her stand, his hand on her side as Fives kept his hand on her ribcage, helping her limp of towards medical.

Well, wasn't this a winning day.


	7. Clone Cadets End

"Why didn't you come see me sooner? If you hadn't gotten to medical sooner, you might have had a bad infection from these cuts on your bruises," The medical droid said as soon as Bliss was released from the bacta tank. She was putting her clothes back on and she rubbed her sore shoulder.

Bliss was in the bacta tank all night long and it was only a few hours from her final test. Her bruises were all healed up and her broken nose was healed. Bliss combed her fingers through her hair as she flexed her shoulders and smiled. Her body didn't hurt and it's a good thing because she can't afford to be in pain on her final test.

"Yeah, that's great," Bliss muttered, pulling her jumpsuit up and her pants, trying to pull on her shoes but she stumbled as she did, her face hitting the wall. "I'm okay!"

Bliss bolted down the halls and towards the barracks. When she arrived, Bliss saw her brothers getting in their armor already. She squeaked in fear.

"Oh gosh, I'm so late!" Bliss ran towards her locker and took off her pants, pulling on her body stocking, tripping over her feet in the process. She fell backwards over the bench and on her back. All of her squad started laughing.

"In a hurry, Bliss?" CT-782 said.

"Shut up!" She said, wrestling with her armor plating and finally getting on her wrist guards. After she got on all her armor, she combed her hair properly and rubbed her face a little bit. "How do I look?"

Fives couldn't help the snort come from his nose. "You look fine, Bliss. Who you trying to impress?"

"The trooper that will assess us, of course!" Bliss faked interest and flicked her hair back with her hand. "I wanna look hot for my superiors," Her voice got high and nasally and all of her brothers gave her a look and turned away, saying _"ewwwwww"._

"Gross, Bliss! He's your brother!" CT-4040 said, cringing at her remark.

"Oh yeah… Never mind," Bliss dusted off her armor and tightened the straps before grabbing her helmet and getting a running head start to the landing platform where everyone was meeting.

"Bliss," CT-782 yelled. "Wait up!" He ran after her, his own helmet in tow and the entire squad went racing after their sister who was now way too full of energy and too excited.

They had a complete disregard for safety regulations and were stopped several times by droids but finally made it to the landing platform. Bliss was staring out of the landing apron and frowned at the rain beating down on the oceans outside of the facility.

"This planet cries too much…" She muttered to herself. Very gradually, the rest of the cadets were joining them and getting into groups with their squad. The ship hit the landing platform and their superior waltzed off with his scuffed armor and shined helmet.

Bric approached the squads and Bliss held her helmet under her arm and against her hip. "Gentlemen!" She rolled her eyes.

"Who wants to be an ARC trooper?" Bric said.

"I do, sir!" Every cadet said in unison, stomping one foot on the ground.

"You have to pass your final test first!" _No crap._ Bliss thought, sarcastically. _This speech is already starting as a big let-down._

"I want you to meet Commander Colt, of the Rancor Battalion!" Bric stepped aside and the Commander stepped up and Bliss couldn't help the smile. Maybe she'll be the one wearing that armor one day!

"I want you troopers to remember: We're shoulder to shoulder on those front lines; Brothers! And sometimes, we may quarrel, but no matter what, we are united!" Bliss was really feeling this speech. "Rule one: We fight together! So who's ready to step up first?"

Bliss bit her lip and tried hard to not make eye contact with Commander Colt. She didn't want to draw attention to herself any more than just standing here.

"Let's start with the unit who ran the practice test in record time; ARC Trooper time!" _Yeah, he isn't talking about us._

"You think he means 'us' boys?" Echo said, being incredibly optimistic. Bliss wasn't having any of it.

"No, idiot." She said out loud, getting a glare from Bric but Commander Colt ignored her or didn't hear her.

"Bravo Unit, step up!" Commander Colt said to the team with the red armor plating. The squad stepped forward and stood at attention.

"Well, bravo for Bravo Squad!" CT-4040 said, rolling his eyes.

"Show an ARC Trooper how it's done." Commander Colt commanded. Bravo Squad slid on their helmets and walked out. Bliss frowned and knew that there was no way they could trump Bravo Squad. She's heard the General talk about them plenty of times and knew that they were much better than them.

"C'mon, boys. Maybe we can learn something," Echo remarked.

"Shuddup, Echo." CT-782 snapped as they all turned around to face Bravo Squad as they marched out. Soon, everyone marched out with them and Bliss was straggling behind a bit.

"Bliss, pick it up!" CT-00-2010 said to her. Bliss rolled her eyes and decided to speak up.

"Calm down, Droidbait. The training ground ain't going anywhere," She began to walk in front of him but he was still stunned.

"Did you just call me Droidbait?" He said. Bliss nodded. "I… kinda like that."

"Good! Cause it's gonna stick. Kay?" She said as they began to run to catch up with the rest of them and took the lift to the top of the training ground to watch the match from below. While her entire squad was assessing them and watching them, Bliss was completely zoned out. She was too busy staring at Commander Colt across the training ground.

His armor was something she wasn't expecting. Didn't everyone in the higher ranks have clean armor? Was it not mandatory to clean their armor? His seemed worn and torn and never mended. Maybe it's a reminder of all the battles he's seen. How he's above all this training bullcrap.

Bliss suddenly pursed her lips in annoyance for no reason and kicked the wall in her own protest. Why was she getting mad at Colt? He didn't do anything.

Suddenly, she was broken from her trance by one of her brothers screaming, "He's gonna make it!"

Bliss looked down below and saw a member of Bravo Squad removing the ascension cable from his belt and firing it at the wall before scaling it and removing the beacon. She watched the red light turn green; a sight she has not yet seen on her practice tests. Maybe she'll see it today…

The comm sounded and called down the Domino Squad to the practice course and Bliss put her helmet on, wiping off her weapon as they took the lift down to the bottom floor and entered the arena just as Bravo Squad was exiting. Number one decided to remark to them.

"Check it out guys; Time to watch the dominoes fall…"

"That's depressing," Bliss said, sighing as they left the training ground. As they left, CT-4040 stared at them as they walked out.

"They are so much better than us,"

"Knock it off!" Fives said, hitting him with his arm. Bliss bit her lip and tightened her grip on her rifle.

From above the training ground, Commander Colt stared down at the extra squad member. "Wait, who is that? There should only be five in the squad."

"CT-8993, or Bliss, as the cadets call her," El-Les pulled up her file and showed Commander Colt everything about her. "She's the very first female clone ever created. The General insisted on keeping her alive."

"Let's hope she's alive for a purpose. I would really not like to send her down to maintenance. Or worse," Commander Colt said, frowning under his helmet. El-Les cast a worried look at Bric who just ignored his partner completely.

Bliss readied herself down on the training ground and decided to take cover behind a barrier as soon as the droids opened fire on them. And of course, CT-782 went in guns blazing. But, for once, it wasn't for nothing. He was actually getting somewhere with it!

Bliss opened fire on some of the droids further away but wasn't watching her flank.

"Bliss, behind you!" She heard someone scream and she turned around just in time to shoot the droid down to the ground. That was a saving grace!

"Thanks, Fives!" She said, turning to her brother and smiling a little bit. Fives just smiled back and they continued the fight. It seemed that they were getting a little farther than normal, which made Bliss very happy.

Fives jumped down next to Echo. "I'll flank left. You flank right." Fives remarked, getting down on one knee and opening fire.

"Take it easy; I'm on your side. Get it? Your side? Huh?" Echo said, smiling. But shots fired at the barrier next to Fives' head and he broke left, Echo breaking right. Bliss rolled her eyes at the terrible joke Echo made and refused to smile. It was dumb as frak.

Bliss fired another shot and saw Droidbait leave the barrier. But he wasn't watching his flank either and there was a droid right on his tail. Bliss couldn't speak fast enough before she screamed out to him.

"Droidbait, behind you!" She yelled just as the droid shot him in the back on the shoulder blade. Bliss opened fire on the droid and watched it fall to the ground with an electronic pulse and she frowned. "Man down!" She screamed to everyone.

Bliss didn't think and dropped her weapon to her side and took off Droidbait's helmet to check his breathing. It was pretty labored but he was groaning in pain.

"Forget him!" Bliss looked up in utter shock at her team and frowned. "I'm breaking for the Citadel!" Of course it was CT-782. Who else would completely disregard a team mate?

"Guys, we can't just leave him! He's hurt!" Bliss demanded, checking Droidbait's shoulder and seeing him flinch in utter pain.

"Leave him! Come on, Bliss!" Fives shouted. Bliss knew this was completely wrong and horrible. She won't leave him.

"Oh, forget her! If she wants to get shot, let her! Come on!" CT-782 shouted at his brothers. They left both of them on the ground and Bliss threw off her helmet to avoid their voices in her ear and opened fire on the droids that were surrounding her and Droidbait.

Suddenly, a single droid approached them and began shooting at Bliss near her head, which was unprotected. She ducked out of the way and opened fire. But then, the droid powered down. She frowned and turned around, her hair swinging in front of her eyes and obstructing her view just slightly. She saw Commander Colt and El-Les on the training ground. This couldn't be good.

"Broke formation, disobeyed orders, and you left two troops behind! You broke rule number one." Bliss heard Colt's disapproving voice from across the ground and she winced as she helped Droidbait sit up.

"I'm sorry, Domino Squad… This is an automatic failure…" El-Les cared about their success. That is why it was so painful for him to say those words.

Commander Colt approached Bliss and she could feel his stare, even though his helmet remained on.

"I admire your kindness, trooper… But that was careless and reckless; disregarding your own gear like that. You could have gotten seriously hurt." Colt said to her. Bliss sighed and looked up at the commander.

"CT-782 was saying awful things, sir. I didn't want to hear him," Was all she said, standing up.

"Be that as it may, you must learn how to tune it out. You'll hear a lot of things you wish you didn't over a comm. But don't abandon your gear. Understood?" Colt said, placing a hand on her shoulder. Bliss sighed and looked down at her feet.

"Yes, Commander Colt. I understand." The Commander left the training ground. Bliss helped Droidbait to his feet and he groaned in pain.

"Bliss?" She turned around to see CT-782 approaching her. "Um… About what I said—"

"Listen, you snarky son of a-," Bliss stopped herself from swearing but didn't wait for him to catch himself in. "I don't care what problems you have with me! It is because of you that we failed! If you hadn't have been so damn impatient, we would have made it!" She fumed and threw her gun to the ground.

" _This is all your fault!"_

"Bliss!" Fives shouted at her. "That's awful!"

"I don't care anymore!" Bliss yelled. "I love everyone on this team! Everyone except for you!" Bliss shoved CT-782's chest and grabbed Droidbait by the arm, slinging his arm over her shoulder and walking away.

"I'm taking him to the medic." Was all she said as they both headed for the medic down the halls. She left him there to get his shoulder looked at and went back to the barracks, ripping off her armor and throwing it to the ground in anger, her entire face twisted in anger. She threw her gun in her locker in the most violent way possible and ripped off her body stocking, pulling on her night clothes and slamming her locker shut and pacing in the room.

Bliss continued to pace until she overheard the chiefs… Bliss stopped in her tracks and listened in onto what El-Les was saying.

"It's in the demand that Bliss be reassigned to Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi's care. She will serve him better than the other Jedi that they had paired her up with."

Bric responded in a short manner. "If you ask me, she shouldn't be assigned to any Jedi. They'll only see how soft she is and send her right back here."

"Sometimes I wonder if you even have a heart, Bric." El-Les said, glaring daggers at his partner. "If these cadets can't pass, we will have no choice but to reassign Bliss. She's the only female clone ever created and it is demanded that she be put in the field. The General has decided that even if her team does not pass, she will not remain here." Both of the bounty hunters left the room and Bliss felt her heartbeat in her ears.

"I'm being reassigned…" She thought it was just something that the Kaminoans thought of… Like, a suggestion… This can't be permanent!

Bliss sat down on the benches and began to breathe heavily. She can't lose her squad… Her brothers…

" _Cadet Bliss, please report to landing platform B-3."_ The intercom signed through the whole facility. Bliss scowled. _Now what?_

Bliss marched all the way down to the landing platform and saw Bric down near the platform. He was just in the barracks, what the heck? Very slowly, she approached Bric and stood behind him.

"Yes, sir? What do you want?"

"Near as I can tell, you're the reason your squad's a failure." That hit her right in the heart.

Bliss laughed and stared him down. "Excuse me? I do my part! I do other people's parts too! Don't go blaming others mistakes on me, sir. I don't need that crap," Bliss said, getting very defensive.

"I'll tell you what you need," Bric whipped around and grabbed Bliss by the collar. "A little thing called 'tough love'!" He threw her down to the ground and Bliss bashed her head against the durasteel floor. The echo of her skull on the ground sounded through the whole platform. Bliss blinked several times.

"Everyone's always been soft on ya, just because you're a woman. Well, the droids won't see a damn difference! Get a backbone, clone!" Bric stomped on Bliss' hand and she squeaked in pain but tried to rise to her feet.

"Is there a problem here?" Bliss blinked several times and saw CT-4040 standing next to them. Bliss crawled away just as CT-4040 approached Bric. "Let me guess. Bliss started a fight and now your breaking her hand in revenge. Is that it?" He was smirking as he said it.

Bric stared CT-4040 down and scowled hard at him. "You're no better than her! You can't take anything seriously!" Bric shoved him against the wall.

"You're a real _Cutup_!" Bric slammed his fist right into CT-4040's side. Bliss flinched as her brother fell to his knees and coughed.

"Th-Thank you, sir…" CT-4040 said. Even Bliss was confused now.

" _For what_?!" Bric shouted, his acid yellow eyes seemed to almost catch fire and Bliss rose to her feet in fear.

"For my name… Cutup!" Bliss couldn't help the smile that graced her lips. He was always so optimistic and that was something she really needed once in a while.

"Out of my sight, cadets!" Bric stared down 'Cutup' and Bliss all at once. "One way or another, she will be out of this army! Count on it!" He pointed at Bliss and she directed her eyes to the floor as she hobbled her way away from the fight and towards the barracks once again, away from the horrible man.

This was too much all in one night. Bliss hobbled to her bed and began to climb the ladder, missing a bar or two every few times. She basically punched the terminal next to her bed and crawled into it.

"Are you alright, Bliss?" Cutup said. Bliss made a small noise of agreement before rolling over onto her side and closing her eyes in sadness… Is she really the reason her squad failed? Did she do wrong trying to protect her brother…? What is wrong with her?

It was almost time to turn in, anyways. Bliss tried her best to go to sleep but she seemed to be the only one rejecting sleep tonight. Everyone had gone to bed early, due to exhaustion. But Fives had returned with great news for his squad.

"Guys! The General will let us retake the final test! We get another chance!" He was so happy about it. Cutup started to cheer and Droidbait was grinning ear to ear. Echo was bouncing in place. But CT-782 was less than enthusiastic. Once the excitement died down, everyone turned in.

Bliss tossed and turned in her bunk but she could hear talking outside of her pod. Bliss sat up in bed once she pulled her bed out and listened to the talk.

"You can't do this to your squad… To Bliss," It was 99. It had to be.

"Bliss? Bliss doesn't care about me! She said it herself: It's all my fault they failed! The team would be better off without me!" CT-782? Oh no… Bliss was so regretting her words now.

It only just now hit her that she hadn't meant a single word of what she said… Bliss knew that the excitement was overwhelming his senses and he couldn't see reason in fight. His heart was always too heavy for his own good.

Bliss thought that was the final say about her, but it wasn't. 99 had more to say about her.

"Bliss can't lose you and your brothers… If your squad doesn't pass tomorrow, she gets reassigned… You'll lose your sister, Hevy… You don't want that." Bliss bit her lip and hugged her knees, tears falling on her pantlegs. Bliss didn't want to lose anybody.

"I… I can't protect her, 99! Bliss is a big girl; she can handle herself," So that was it? He didn't care?

Bliss curled back up into bed and let the pod slide closed and cried. Cried like a little girl… She's lost a brother…

* * *

The next day had come much too fast and everyone was all geared up in their armor and Bliss was tending to Droidbait's shoulder blade, rubbing a salve on his skin before helping him with the body stocking and putting his armored plating back on his back and chest. Bliss stayed silent. She knew that if she said anything, everything would just collapse in front of her. She had to keep herself quiet somehow.

So Bliss sat on the bench, messing with her fingers and just hoping for the best. Hoping that CT-782 would get over his search for victory and see how he had a team and not just follow it all by himself. That CT-782, he really needed to—wait… where is he?

"Hey, where's CT-782?" Fives looked around the lockers for their missing squad mate.

"Yeah, where is CT-782?" Echo looked down at Bliss who rose to her feet and looked around the corners and put her head against the locker, scowling.

"If he is not here, we will fail!" She said, kicking the locker door.

"Not today, sister," Bliss looked up at CT-782 and she smiled wide, knowing he didn't actually leave! He stayed! He's gonna help them pass… Bliss crossed her fingers at the hope she won't be reassigned after all. "Today we pass."

He was carrying his submachine gun on his shoulder and had his helmet in his other hand and passed the team, taking the lead with his giant 1 painted on his scuffed and dented armor.

"And one more thing—the name's Hevy!" Whoa… Bliss gawked at her brother like he was a changed man. 99 really made him see reason, didn't he? Bliss shared a look in Fives' direction and he just shrugged. Echo had a smile on his lips and couldn't help but follow close behind his brother. Bliss hung back, her rifle hanging loosely in her left hand. _Please let this happen…_ She thought to herself.

They made their way to the training ground for their final-final test and stood on the lift. Bliss had an itchy trigger finger but was pretty excited.

"Orders came in clear, mates." Echo said. He wasn't going to repeat them?

"Nothing to repeat, Echo?" Cutup asked him.

"Not today." The whole squad was functioning as one. Bliss smiled and flexed her shoulders.

"How's that shoulder treating you?" Hevy said to Droidbait.

"I'll live," Droidbait responded, barely blinking an eyelash away. Fives elbowed Bliss in the ribs and she squeaked, looking up at him.

"We all know what we have to do," He said to her. Bliss knew exactly what he meant as the floor opened up and they only had a few seconds to adjust to the lighting before they all saw the droids poised at them and ready to fire. They jumped into action, taking out the droids that stood in their way. Bliss fired at the droids near her and took cover behind a barricade.

Hevy stood next to her and the rest of the squad hid behind the same barricade. They're all staying together!

"That's it boys, stay together!" Hevy said. Bliss smiled wide.

"Fives, on your left!" Cutup yelled as Fives stood up and fired at the droid that almost took him out. The droid fell to the floor with a loud thud.

"Thanks, Cutup," Fives told Cutup, smiling.

"No problem, brother." Cutup responded and smiled at all of his brothers.

"Okay, when I give the signal, move up!" Hevy lifted up his hand and looked at the squad who all looked at him and waited for the signal. Bliss felt her finger twitch a little as she watched him throw his hand down and they all moved forward, taking down a barrage of droids in their way.

Bliss saw blaster fire near her feet from above and rolled to the left, lining up the droids with the crosshairs and fired, taking them down instantly. She saw her brothers heading for another barrier and ran crouched down towards it and ducked down as three of her brothers above and opening fire on the droids. Bliss rubbed her neck and sighed deeply.

"Keep it up, we're doing great!" Droidbait yelled, keeping his gun close to his forearm and protecting his squad.

"We might actually pass," Cutup said with a hopeful expression.

"Yeah," Bliss said, snorting. "Don't jinx us—we've still got the Citadel."

She checked her gun once before she jumped up and opened fire on the droids that were near the Citadel at the top of the watch tower. But she jumped down in fear as the guns on the wall tried to take her head out.

"Let's move! Let's move!" Hevy shouted as he jumped out from the barrier and revved up his submachine gun and taking down the droids near the tower. Bliss rolled out of the way near the guns on the walls and ran near the Citadel.

Droidbait was near her and kept a close eye on their flank as Bliss watched their frontal.

They all made it to the wall and hid from the fire of the guns on the walls.

"All right, prep the ascension cables," Droidbait said. "Let's scale this thing!"

Bliss' hand went to her belt for the cables but felt nothing on her belt. Fear rose in her heart that she might have forgotten her cable and freaked out. But she looked at her brothers and realized that _no one_ had their cables!

"Wait, where are the cables?!" Hevy shouted, turning around to face the rest of the squad.

"They're not on our belts!" Echo double checked his belt but realized that it was a fruitless effort. There were no cables!

"Just when things seemed easy," Cutup frowned in fear.

"We can't scale the face without them! We'll fail the test if we can't finish!" Droidbait shouted, slamming his fist against the wall.

Bliss stared at the walls around her and tried to figure something out. But it didn't seem like it was working out for her. "We can't fail! I can't be reassigned!" Bliss shouted, jumping up and staring at the face of the wall, frowning as she did so.

"You're not going anywhere, Bliss!" Cutup said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "We'll think of something."

"Will we?" Her eyes narrowed at Cutup as she stared at the wall and internally screamed in terror.

"So this is it." Echo gave up and looked down at Fives, sighing deeply.

"No, not exactly! Those guns up there—we can use them as a step to the next level," Hevy suggested. Bliss looked at the wall and smiled. She trusted Hevy's weaponry knowledge. This could work!

"Form a chain, and use each other to scale this face!"

"Use the guns?" Fives stared at Hevy's insane idea and stared at him like he was psychotic. "Are you crazy?!"

"Trust me!" Hevy said. "I know weapons!"

"I trust you!" Bliss said, jumping up with her gun and jumping back. "I'll draw their fire! You guys go!" She ran out into the gun fire and began to shoot at the guns. After she opened fire, they jumped up to the next level and shot out the guns, short circuiting them. Bliss kept the other guns busy as she watched Hevy shoot out the guns on the walls.

Bliss dived behind a barrier and ducked down behind the barrage of blaster fire and then heard silence. She looked up above the barrier and saw that the guns were all down and everyone was climbing up the wall while using the guns. Everybody was working together!

Echo was up the level first and grabbed the beacon. For the first time in her short life, Bliss watched as a member of her team held the beacon and it turned from red to green and the siren sounded. Echo called out in triumph and Bliss lowered her weapon, smiling up at her brothers.

"We did it…" Bliss said, smiling wide as she watched her brothers cheer from above the tower.

* * *

"Congratulations," Bliss stood at attention with the rest of her squad and felt the medal finally on her chest. It felt like the biggest honor she has ever received. "You've graduated. At ease," El-Les declared and Bliss relaxed. She took the medal off of her chest and stared at the shiny gold on the piece of striped fabric. A symbol to say that she made it… And will not be reassigned. Now the cards will fall where they may.

Bliss saw her brothers rushing off to get fitted for their first piece of professional trooper armor. She ran off after them and headed for the fitters and waited for her own armor to be made especially for her. The chest plating was curved in just slightly for her and the waist was wider than her brothers' armor.

Bliss looked in the reflective glass and smiled. She was finally a trooper. Bliss then saw one of her brothers standing behind her in the same armor and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Bliss," It was Hevy. "You deserve this armor." Bliss smiled up at her brother and hugged him.

"I'm sorry I was so cruel… It's because of you that I get to wear this armor with you. I didn't want to be alone when we ship out… I need my brothers I've come to love. Especially you, Hevy."

Hevy patted his sister's head and ruffled her hair. She smiled and punched him in the shoulder before picking up her helmet and her gun.

"Time to get shipped out," Hevy picked up his helmet. Bliss smiled and ran towards the huge hangar where all of her brothers stood. Bliss took her spot next to Cutup and Fives and Hevy stood at the end of the line. Droidbait took his spot next to Echo who stood at the other end of the line-up. General Ti made her way down the isle of troopers and stood at the front of the hangar where the giant airship was waiting to be loaded up.

"Today is your graduation," General Ti said, holding her hands behind her back. "Here, you ship out to fight against the Separatists and restore peace to the Republic. Congratulations! You are no longer cadets—you are troopers." Bliss felt a shiver go down her spine at that. She finally made it!

"May the Force be with you." As a Jedi, that is her final line. Always.

"Atten- _TION_!" The Commander shouted throughout the entire hangar. Every Trooper stood at attention and readied themselves. "Helmets: _ON_!"

Bliss put on her helmet and began marching with her brothers towards the airship ramp. She marched alongside her squad… Her brothers. _May be my creation wasn't a mistake… This is my purpose._ Bliss said in her head. _I can feel it._

Her feet touched the durasteel ramp and she knew that this was the first step to the rest of her life.


	8. Officially Marked

**I have no excuse for my neglect on this story... After I finished my finals, everything began to roller coaster around. Between my mom getting put in the hospital and the stress of my exams, I didn't get around to writing. This chapter alone took me way too long! I would like to formally apologize to every last one of my readers! Especially 'ZabuzasGirl'. I can imagine you are incredibly pissed at me and I am SO SORRY! But I hope this chapter is alright. I'm sorry once again! Really! :(**

* * *

"You sure you wanna do this, Bliss? It's permanent."

"I know that, moron. That's why I wanna do it. We already dragged him down here. I'm following through with it. Hevy got one. I want one!"

"Alright, fine. Go ahead, Needles; Stick her."

The clone in question held up a laser powered needle and filled it with a specific type of ink before sterilizing Bliss' selected body part. She sat on the chair and felt the disinfectant on her neck and the side of her face. She squinted her eyes and waited for the pain. It finally struck her face and she hissed in pain.

The tattoo started at the base of her neck and it was green and blue vines that traveled up to her skull where the side of her head was shaved and the vines bloomed into a dark purple, red, and navy blue nova lily. Once she heard the laser's fine tuning hum slowly cease, she knew she could sit up. Needles held up the mirror.

"What do you think?"

Bliss' response was to hug him as tight as she possibly could. "I love it, I love it, _I love it!_ Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Bliss chanted, hugging him tighter.

"Okay, Bliss, let 'im go," Fives pulled her off their brother and kept her hands down at her side. "He's got other things to do now." As Needles was packing up his gear and leaving, Bliss shouted another thank you in his direction. And then she went around the freighter, smiling and showing everyone her new tattoo that she would cherish for the rest of her life, as it marked her as who she was.

But as Bliss was running, she managed to run head first into a superior. One of her Commanders, no less. She looked down at her brother in arms as she knocked him to the floor and blushed with embarrassment.

"I am so sorry, sir! A thousand apologies," She said, holding out her hand for him to take so she could pull him up to his feet. The green painted armored man began to rub his neck and that made Bliss even more nervous.

"Did I hurt you, sir?"

"Hurt me? Nah, I'm fine, trooper." Hearing those words and knowing he was speaking to _her_ when he called her 'Trooper' was the best feeling in the world! "Actually… I was just on my way to the barracks to look for you. There's someone on the bridge who would like to meet you."

Bliss was stunned. Someone _on the bridge_ wanted to meet her? All Bliss could do was not and follow the commander to the lift and towards the bridge. Bliss slowly stalked behind the commander and bit her lip as she saw someone who wasn't in trooper armor. It was a… Jedi?

"General? She's here," The person that turned around was definitely a Jedi. He wore traditional Jedi robes with armor plates on his forearms. His skin was a dark orange and his face hidden behind a mask of his kind. Bliss knew exactly who this was.

 _Jedi Master Plo Koon. War General. Excellent pilot._

"It's good to meet you, Trooper. Welcome to the war," It seemed like such a dark statement to Bliss. She had finally entered this gruesome slaughter but she was happy about it; because now she has a purpose… A dark purpose.

"Wonderful to meet you, Master Jedi Koon." She bowed her head in respect to the Jedi and he looked at her curiously.

"You know who I am?" He looked at the Commander who had brought her and he just shrugged.

"Oh yes. I specialized in studies of Jedi Generals. I know all of them from the archives." Bliss responded with a calm, collective stand point. She was proud of her accomplishments and was happy to be on this huge cruiser with her brothers in arms and her commanding officers. But she was damned under the circumstances. Bliss took no pleasure in killing but she took much pleasure in destroying rust buckets that the Separatist Army pass off as droids.

A simple machine of such low capacity and gears in their being are no match for the flesh and blood that ends their useless functions. A piece of metal is no match for such energy that is a lightsaber.

"Well, I wanted to talk to you before we make the stop on Rishi Moon. Your squad has made the request that you be stationed with them. That you go everywhere with them… But I have to ask you something." Bliss bit her lip in dreaded anticipation.

"There's a place just for you in the army alongside Obi-Wan Kenobi. He knows of you and would welcome you… But you would have to go alone. Would you prefer to fight, or station? The choice is yours, Bliss."

Shock was on her face. She would get the dream position of being within arms alongside Jedi and older brothers… This was like a dream to her… But if it meant leaving her squad, she wasn't sure that was a commitment she could live with upon her shoulders.

"I appreciate the offer, sir… But I will have to decline. My squad and I aren't just close. They're my brothers and friends; I can't leave them." The Jedi wasn't surprised with her decision. The clones are loyal to their brothers and to their officers in command.

"I understand, Bliss. You are dismissed to go back to your brothers," General Koon told her as it looked like he was smiling. Bliss went to turn and leave before Koon placed his hand on her shoulder.

"There will always be a place for you on the frontlines, Bliss. How you get there is your choice." Bliss will take that with her as she returned to the barracks where her brothers were.

"You got summoned to the bridge?!" Cutup shouted in her face and he was practically vibrating. Bliss flinched as she felt him spit on her cheek and she rose on her toes and shouted back in his face.

"It was uneventful, Cutup!" She mimicked his vocal height and pushed him down to his feet once again.

"What did they say to you?" Fives said, genuinely curious about what they asked her about. But Bliss didn't seem like she really wanted to speak about it. They could tell in the way her shoulders were slumped and her posture was hunched.

"Nothing important, honestly." Bliss didn't want to worry them. It was hard enough that they knew about her almost getting transferred; they didn't need to know about this either. Bliss made her way towards the bunk with her rifle next to it and laid down on it, staring at the ceiling above her.

"You expect us to believe that?" Cutup said, smirking as he sat down on his own bunk.

"I expect you to be quiet so I can sleep. I'm tired," Bliss lifted up the visor that she removed from her helmet and gazed at her reflection… Her tattoo… She had marked herself permanently now. She was her own person. An official trooper for the Republic.


	9. Rookies (Part 1)

_Maybe I should have taken Koon up on his offer…_ Bliss was thinking as she tapped her foot, walking back and forth in the room where she was waiting for something to beep on her computer. Beep, whirl, even spark, something! Something to keep her from dying of boredom.

The last time something exciting happened was when the electricity went out and Bliss and Fives spent the whole time telling creepy ghost stories, scaring Echo and Cutup half to death. The Sarge was less than impressed with their stories.

When Bliss heard a beep from her console, she jumped almost a meter in the air before scrambling to the console and hitting the screen with almost her entire palm, stoked to finally be able to do something, even if it was open the comm channel for the deck officer's report.

"This is the deck officer checking in. Nothing to report… as usual." Bliss removed her hand from the console and groaned, slamming her forehead against the metal and immediately regretting it. The echo of her skull hitting durasteel ricocheted through the whole outpost. No one asked if she was okay though. Sounds like that coming from her upper level were always normal.

The obnoxious music from the scanners below was another thing to echo through the whole building and Bliss was beginning to tire of it. But from below, Hevy and Cutup seemed to be enjoying themselves in a stupid arm wrestle match.

" _You're listening to the Grand Army of the Republic broadcast. The voice of the Outer Rim. This next one goes out to the mud jumpers of the 224_ _th_ _. Keep your heads down and your seals tight, boys."_

The doors swished open and Bliss looked down, seeing Echo standing there with a datapad… Reading the Regulation Manual… Again.

The sound of effort and grunts of matches between strengths was heard and Bliss turned her head just in time to see Hevy slam Cutup's hand against the console. He jumped up and shouted in triumph, a stupid, power hungry look on his face.

 _He thinks he hot bantha poodoo because he can win an arm wrestling match…_ Bliss thought to herself.

"Who's next? Fives?" Hevy said, looking over to where Fives was sitting. He avoided eye contact, by rolling his.

"Uh, shouldn't you be watching your scope, Hevy?" Echo said.

"Yeah!" Hevy said with mock enthusiasm. "Let's take a look!" He activated his scope view screen and it seemed as if nothing showed up with his retort of, "Oh, what do you know? All clear! Just like the last hundred times I looked at it."

Bliss snorted and went back to her console, scanning the facility for breaches in the pipes or faulty wiring or _anything_ to get her out of this stupid chair and check the base to repair something.

Bliss was in charge of maintenance of the facility and if anything were to be out of place, she would be dispatched with a tool kit and she would fix it. The last few weeks have been painfully quiet and it was starting to drive her to the brink of insanity.

"Personally, I like that it's so quiet out here. I can catch up on the Reg manual," Echo said, tapping his datapad to emphasize his point.

"Of course you do," Bliss whispered from her post.

"Echo, what's wrong with you?" Hevy snapped. "We should be out on the frontlines, blastin' droids!"

"Ah, leave him alone. They kept him in his growth chart too long." Cutup remarked. Bliss snickered in response and ended up standing from her post and sliding down the staircase railing to be next to her brothers.

"Echo's right, guys! C'mon, we haven't been here that long. And it's just our starting step; soon we'll be with the big boys!" Bliss cracked her knuckles and grinned as Hevy slammed his fist into her shoulder plate. "Ow!"

"You may not realize this yet, Fives. But you picked the most boring outpost in the entire outer rim."

"And one of the most important!"

Bliss froze at the entrance of their superior and stood at attention, straightening her back.

"Attention! Sargent on deck!" Everyone followed suit, standing at attention.

"At ease," He said to them all. "Even though you're all new here, I shouldn't have to remind you that this quadrant is key to the outer rim. If the droids can get passed this station, they can surprise attack the facilities where we were born, on our homeworld of Kamino!" Bliss fidgeted in a little way that no one really noticed except for those closest to her.

"There's some officers on the way. So I want everything squared away for inspection," Sarge looked at Bliss directly. "The pipes in the barracks have been leaking coolant and the temperature down there is 5 degrees below Celsius." Bliss grinned and reached for her patching tool kit before bolting to the air ducts to start welding the leaks.

When she slid her way into the vents, the cold air hit her like a smack to the face. Bliss put down her visors and began to use a blow torch to make the leak in the pipe slightly bigger and put a metal plate over the leak, welding it in place. After the plate was placed in, she picked up her soldering iron and a wire, attached with a temperature gage to monitor the temperature of the contents within the pipeline.

Bliss replaced the grate back on the air duct and began to walk back up, before she felt the entire station shake. Falling onto her butt, Bliss gulped and quickly stood up, grabbing at the wall before the station shook yet again. Bolting up the ramps toward the main control deck, she found that it was just another meteor shower.

"CT-327, report in," There was only static on the end of Sarge's comlink. "Sentry, do you copy?" Just static.

"Probably interference from the meteors?"

"I don't see him down there, Sarge." Fives stated, scanning his scope for a sign of the deck officer.

"You two, go find him." He told Droidbait and Charger who went down to the front doors. As soon as they got there, the doors slid open to reveal droids.

"DROIDS!" Droidbait shouted. As soon as they were spotted by the droids, they were shot dead.

Sarge quickly put on his helmet and grabbed his rifle, running down to blast at the intruders. He hid behind the walls for cover as the remaining five in the station stood there in fear.

"Sound the alarm!" Sarge shouted to Bliss who tried to turn on the distress call.

"I can't! They disabled the beacon!" Bliss shouted.

"Get a message out to the fleet! We have to warn—" The Sargent was shot in the leg by a blue laser bolt, knocking him to the ground. Before he could stand back up, the droids kicked his gun away, stood on his chest and fired at his head.

"Sarge!" Bliss shouted, but was dragged away by Fives and Hevy. Cutup slammed the doors shut and ripped the wires out of the panel wall, jamming the doors closed.

"That should slow those buckets down!"

Bliss slid across the ground on her knee plates and towards a ventilation shaft, tearing the grate from the walls. "Guys, this way! Hurry!" Reaching for her helmet, she slid it into place and pushed her brothers into the shaft to get them out of harm's way, except for Echo who wanted to stay behind and protect the base.

"No! We can—" He was cut off by the droids cutting their way through the door.

"There's too many, forget about it!" Bliss said as she ducked down and crawled into the ventilation ducts. Echo came in behind her and one by one, they climbed down the ducts and towards the outside vent shaft. Hevy used his foot to bust the grate off and jumped from the vent, everyone following behind. Hevy led the party with Fives behind, then Bliss, then Echo, then Cutup.

"What do we do without the Sarge?" Fives asked Hevy, hoping he'd have an answer.

"The Reg manual says that—" There was a rumbling sound underneath the ground and they all froze in fear.

"What is that?" Bliss said out loud, biting her lip in anxiousness.

"It doesn't sound like droids…" Cutup said, worried for his life.

"Don't forget about those giant eels," Hevy jabbed Fives in the chestplate who scoffed in turn.

"I've never seen one—"

Fives silenced after they all heard a bloodcurdling scream from the back. They turned around and saw Cutup in the mouth talons of a huge slithering beast with glowing red eyes.

"CUTUP!" Hevy screamed, firing his blaster at the creature who made way with Cutup, down a tunnel. He was a goner…

"What the hell was that?!" Hevy screamed at Echo, knowing he would have an answer.

"Th-That was an eel. And that's why we're given the regulation not to go outside." Echo responded. Bliss frowned and looked into the hole, hearing the horrid screams from inside made her dizzy.

"Poor Cutup…" Bliss said to no one in particular. Just speaking to herself.

The group continued their walk down the path where they were unsure it led to until they heard a humming above their heads. "It's Commander Cody!" Fives shouted, pointing at the sky.

"The inspection team… They'll help us, right?" Bliss said, grabbing hold of Echo's arm out of fear.

"There are no guarantees, Bliss."

So now they were just sitting there trying to not alert those blasted eels or draw droids to their positions.

"Try and contact them! Use your comlink," Bliss said, pointing to Echo's wrist where he began to fiddle to find a station that wasn't main static. It was a long shot but it was worth a try. Ultimately though, he had no luck.

"No use. Their comms are on a different scramble system."

"But we have to warn them! They're walking into a trap!"

"I'll signal them; with this flare." Hevy declared, unloading his charge cartridge and loading in a droid attack flare. "Three," He signaled for them to all get down, which they did. "Two… One…" Hevy fired into the sky and almost 10 seconds after, there was a blaster war on the deck.

Bliss began to panic when she heard shouts and suddenly, there was a huge explosion from the platform. "MOVE!"

They all jumped in a different direction to avoid being crushed by the debris of the inspection team's ship. Everyone seemed relatively okay, except for Bliss. A giant hunk of durasteel fell on top of her, trapping her within. And it was smoldering hot to the touch, making it so she couldn't move it alone.

"Help! Someone help me!" Bliss screamed out of fear.

There was silence outside of the trap she found herself in and she began to kick the durasteel with her feet and knees to try and get it to move.

"Bliss? Bliss! Is that you?!" Someone shouted. Bliss growled with anger.

"No! It's a freaking astromech!" She said with a heavy amount of sarcasm before fidgeting angrily. "Get this stupid thing off me! Now!"

"Okay, just hang on!" One of them shouted. Very slowly, the durasteel was moved and she crawled out of the wreckage, throwing off her helmet and wiping her forehead as sweat dripped down her temple.

"Thank you," Bliss breathed a sigh of relief and stood up, wiping her hands on her armor plates before jumping in fear at the large screech heard in front of them. The same giant eel emerged from a tunnel in the ground and began snapping at them. With the shot of a perfected sniper, Commander Cody's partner shot the eel directly in the eye. It flopped down, completely still.

Bliss cautiously stepped towards them all.

"Nice shot," Fives muttered.

"The name's Rex," He removed his helmet to show shaved blond stubble on the top of his head. He put his hand on the eye that leaked blue blood and stood up. "But you'll call me captain, or sir."

"Sir, yes sir!" All of the troopers shouted, standing at attention instantly.

"I'm Commander Cody, your new boss." He removed his helmet and Bliss spotted a scar next to his eye that went down to his cheek.

"My designation is trooper 27-5555, sir!" Fives said, sounding very much like a soldier if anyone ever believed.

"We call him Fives, sir. I'm Hevy, this is Echo, and Bliss." Hevy named his companions one by one and the other two troopers stared Bliss down.

"Ah, the first sister to be made… In a batch of shinies, no less." Commander Cody remarked, making Bliss a little confused and uncomfortable.

"Shinies, sir?" Echo asked as Captain Rex approached him.

"That's right, your armor: it's shiny and new," Rex slapped his hand against Echo's chest, leaving a handprint of blue blood on it, giving the fresh armor a bit of character.

Commander Cody looked around at the motley looking crew and frowned. "Where's your Sargent?"

Bliss flinched before answering, "Dead, sir. We're all that's left."

"Sir," Hevy began as Captain Rex walked in the other direction. "Me and my batches are trained and ready. We'll take back our base—shiny, or not!"

"There's hope for you yet, rookie…" That statement sent a rush of giddy happiness through Bliss as she realized that she was about to be used what she was trained for. Combat!

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE**

 _Words do not express how sorry I am for the delay. There is no excuse for the neglect upon this story, I'm afraid… Believe me, having this story and writing it is a complete joy but with everything happening in my personal life, it's been hard to write at all. For those who follow me, you'll notice I've found inspiration in a fluffy Harry Potter Fanfic that I started a few nights ago and have been updating non-stop. I hope to finish the next chapter for this by the end of the week. If not, I promise I will not leave it to fester like I have in the past!_

 _Thank you all so much for being patient with me! I love you!_


	10. Rookies (Part 2)

"Bliss, how did you ever pass the climbing section of training?"

"Fives, how did _you_ pass the 'shut the hell up' section of training?"

"That's not a section,"

"It will be in about _three seconds_ when I kick you off this Cliffside!"

Just like siblings to bicker when there was a bigger task at hand. The Troopers had to reach the platform again to get inside the base, but to do that, they needed to scale the face of the cliff. Bliss was in between Fives and Hevy during the climb and, as always, she took her time climbing. Nothing more embarrassing than being put out because you slipped your foot on the wrong rocky edge.

But, clearly Fives was fed up with how long she was taking and was convinced she had no clue how to climb.

"Would you both quiet down?" Captain Rex snapped at them. Bliss shut her mouth immediately and they finally reached the topside of the cliff.

Bliss stumbled a bit before righting herself and standing at attention in front of Rex as he spoke.

"Look sharp, rookies," He demanded. "As long as those tweezers command this post, our home planet of Kamino is at risk." With those 'encouraging' words, he handed Echo a blaster rifle.

Echo looked at the rifle, back at Rex, and then at the rifle again. "But, there's so many of them…"

"Doesn't matter, kid. We have to retake this base. So we _will_ retake this base." Bliss reached behind her for her own rifle and smiled under her helmet as they all prepared their weapons for combat.

"How do you propose we get through those blast doors, Rex, ol' boy?" Commander Cody mocked, waiting for an answer.

"I have a few ideas…" He dragged out, specifically not telling the others of his ideas. For what? Tension, of course!

When they finally reached the platform, Captain Rex picked up a droid corpse along the way and dragged it to the front for preparation.

"Oh, I get it… He's gonna pretend to be a droid…" Bliss muttered and Commander Cody put his left hand to his visor, as if he was rubbing the bridge of his nose in frustration. The girl just kind of shrugged and hid against the wall of the facility with the rest of the troopers, except for Rex who was waltzing right up to the cam-scanner.

His walk was disoriented, off balance, stiff; just like a droid's would be in a clone's armor. Bliss watched him carefully.

"Unit 2-6, is that you?"

"Roger, Roger," Bliss put her hand over the filter on her mouth to try and hide her snicker.

"You sound strange. Is something wrong with your vocabulator?" The droid from behind the door said into the receiver.

Rex put his hand to his throat, as if to fix the fabled vocabulator that the droid spoke of. In a more refined, deep tone, he said those words again.

"Take off your helmet. Let me see your faceplate." The droid demanded. Once again, Rex responded in the dead language and got down below the blindside of the camera and held up the dismembered head of the droid in the camera's view.

There was a loud swish and the door was then opened. Rex stood right at attention and removed his twin pistols from their holsters, putting them at eye level with the bronze clankers.

"Clones!" The droids shouted. As to mock them, Rex spoke again.

" _Roger. Roger._ " It was vein-chilling, in a way. He said it so slowly, so dead, that it gave Bliss shivers. The droid fell over, a smoking whole in its head. It made Bliss well up with a sick satisfaction to see a dead droid, and not just a disabled one.

Raising her blaster rifle, she opened fire alongside her brothers and the three droids standing guard, fell destroyed in an instant.

"Right, let's move!" Rex demanded as they quickly ran to the primary control module.

Even though he had no right to ask, Echo still felt the need to. "Permission to take point, sir?"

"I'm always first, kid." Rex said, clearly smirking under the helmet he wore. Bliss snorted and danced around her brother who was a little overly confused.

These aren't like the captains they had on Kamino. And that's probably the reason Bliss was so happy. It was time for a change, a dent in the lifestyle. A serious attitude makeover. She was getting too high and mighty. Bliss would never admit it, but she needed a serious attitude adjustment. And this was the perfect opportunity.

"So this is it. We're going in, lasers blazin'!" She was too hyped up to be destroying hardware.

Reaching the primary control module, Bliss kneeled down behind Rex and Cody and lifted the rifle to her shoulder blade and continuously pulled the trigger, shooting anything she could that wasn't in white and blue or white and yellow.

With a sick snap like sound against armor, Fives groaned and reached for his shoulder, putting his hand over the smoking burnt dent in his armor.

"Fives!" Hevy said in fear and reached for him.

"He's okay! Focus on the battle!" Cody said, wisdom and experience leaking from every syllable.

Deep inside, Bliss' pure motherly instinct was trying to kick in. She was afraid that she would abandon her rifle all together and tend to the every need of her brother's injury, but that was not the case any longer. She had to let go of her short sided selflessness, as General Shaak Ti told her to.

With Rex pulling off one of the droid's heads that pulled a sword on him, Bliss was busy plowing over a clanker behind the control panel, firing several times into its head, neck, and torso. Not a single blast was missed or wasted.

Echo and Fives cornered the same droid and opened fire. It fell to the ground and Echo looked at Fives with a happy expression, or lack of one, and said like a child, "I got one!"

"Sorry, Echo. I junked that one." Fives said, walking away with a grin on his face under the helmet.

"Like hell you did." Echo snapped, something quite out of character for him.

With a droid laying disabled on the ground, Hevy thought this was the perfect time for puns.

"Not so tough now, are ya, Sparky?" He remarked t the sparks flying every which way from the droid's empty husk.

Cody stepped up to the console and began barking orders almost immediately.

"Get to the window. It looks like we have more visitors,"

"What kind of visitors?" Bliss questioned while Cody gave her a deadpanned look. She bit her lip. "More droids. Got it."

They all ran to the windows and Bliss took off her helmet, wiping her forehead with the palm of her hand to remove the sweat and get her bangs away from her eyes.

Echo pulled his helmet back on and lowered his visor, zooming into the space above.

"It looks like a Separatist Fleet!" He said, clearly stunned at how many ships there were.

"That's why they commandeered the outpost!" Cody stated. "They're planning a full scale invasion!"

"We have to warn command." Rex told them all. Bliss looked down at her rifle and then jumped slightly as something inside triggered.

"Captain, what are we supposed to do in the meantime? Surely we can't hold off an entire fleet…" Her nervousness was beginning to show, but as a soldier, she needs to remember that fear has no place on the battlefield.

Rex looked at Bliss and then at Echo. "Get to the console and signal a code red."

Echo didn't respond. He leaped towards the console and began to mess with the controls before shouting in frustration and held up two separate wires that were now hotwired together.

"Those clankers sabotaged our transmitter and hardwired the all-clear signal!" He stated. "It'll take some time to repair-"

"We don't have time!" Rex snapped.

It seemed that Bliss was the only one still looking out the window and therefore, the only one taking notice to the giant ship that dislodged from the star cruiser and was descending rapidly toward the base platform. "Uh, guys?" They finally looked up and noticed the ship.

Fives was nervous. Hevy could hear his armor plates rattling against his pistols which he still held onto.

"Well buddy, you always said you wanted to be on the front lines!" Hevy mocked. Fives scowled and looked in any direction besides his.

The ship landed on the platform rough enough to make the base shake and soon enough, an entire platoon of droids left the docking ramp of the ship, standing parade style in front of the doors to the outpost.

"We can't protect this outpost long against that army of clankers." Cody said, sounding mildly defeated as he spoke.

"Then we'll destroy the outpost instead!" All of them looked towards Rex like he was absolutely insane. Echo tore his gaze away from the console.

"But sir, our mission is to defend this outpost—at all costs!"

"We have to warn the Republic about the invasion," Rex turned and looked down towards the army. "They'll take notice when the all-clear signal stops."

Bliss put her helmet on her hip and looked at Rex and the rest of her brothers. Be this a brilliant plan, this also seemed extremely risky and dangerous.

"That's right… When they stop receiving our beacon, they'll get the message something's wrong!" Fives determined.

"We'll need every thermal detonator in the inventory!" Rex demanded.

Bliss stepped up. "It'll take a little more than a few detonators, captain. Our inventory isn't prepared for something like that."

"What about the TB?" Echo said. They all looked down. "This moon freezes for over half a year. We use liquid tibanna as fuel to heat the base!"

"Liquid Tibanna: Highly explosive." Cody determined. Hevy's fingers were practically itching at the chance to build a high-class bomb.

"Good. Bring the tanks in, and prime the detonators." Fives and Echo ran to collect the detonators while Hevy and Bliss tracked down the tanks of TB. As Bliss was carrying one, her shaky hands nearly dropped the tank but she righted herself just in time before it could hit the floor.

"I almost killed us all, did you see that?" Bliss said to Hevy who rolled his eyes in frustration at her immaturity. "What? If you can't joke about your own death, what can you joke about?"

"How about someone else's?" Fives suggested as he began setting up the detonators.

"Nah, that's too morbid. If you joke about someone else dying, they'll think you're homicidal. But if ya joke about your own death, then they think you're the comic relief."

"Who's 'they'?" Hevy said, hoisting a tank over his shoulder. Bliss grinned.

"Now that's a good question, brother." Was all she said and set up her final tank. Fives and Hevy exchanged a look of confusion and decided to let it go.

"Everyone, gather 'round," Rex demanded as they walked down towards the entrance. "All right, listen up! There's only one target of interest in this sector: Kamino. It's the closest thing we clones have to a home. Today, we fight for more than the Republic. Today, we fight for all our brothers back home. Understood?"

"Sir, yes sir!" The shinies in question responded with obedience and reached for their helmets sitting on the table. Bliss looked down at her helmet and then at Rex who was already placing his helmet on and running with the others. Bliss stopped wasting time and put her own helmet on, running to catch up as they headed for the armory.

The doors opened and Hevy was already heading for his sub-machine gun.

"I think we can even the odds a bit, commander. Especially since they don't know we're here," He lifted the gun into his hands and stated, "This one's mine."

"A big gun doesn't make a big man." Commander Cody stated as Bliss came in behind them and reached for a DC-15A rifle, one specifically marked with a blue stripe. It was her modified rifle and something she was extremely proud of.

Cody picked up the same but the non-modified selection. Fives settled on his hand pistol blasters, something he was more accustomed to.

Heading for the entrance, they could hear the droids marching on the other side. "Reinforcements reporting. Open up." The droid spoke.

Hevy opened the door and smirked. "Didn't say please…"

And with that, he opened fire on the droids, mowing them down with his sub-machine gun. Fives, Cody, And Bliss joined him, firing at the droids quickly. But no matter the blasts, they were outnumbered. Fives got a running head start and threw a detonator at the droids, setting the platform on fire with the large explosion.

"We could use a Jedi about now!" Cody determined.

"Wait, I got something!" Bliss shouted, unloading her normal cartridge and replacing it with a magazine with a blue stripe. "Ready? Get back!" She shouted as she kneeled down and fired. A billow of steam left her gun and there was a blue crackle in the sky, almost like lightning. The light made everyone look away and Bliss grinned under her helmet as she saw the droids were frozen like stone in place. Cody slammed his hand down on the controls and the doors slammed shut.

"What the hell was that?" Cody said, staring at Bliss.

The woman in response was beaming. "A little liquid coolant and proper chemicals can go a long way, sir. But that won't hold them for long." Bliss stated.

With agreement, they fell back behind the entrance lines as an explosion went off outside, causing the doors to come free. Fives stood in the middle of the hall, using his blaster pistols to his advantage.

"Fall back to the OP center!" Fives demanded, running up the stairs. Bliss was hot on his heels and ran in the direction of the bomb where she nearly tripped over Rex's legs, heading for the same grate they escaped from earlier.

"The handset isn't linked up with the detonator!" Rex said with frustration. "Hevy!"

"Yes sir?" The trooper said, running up to him.

"This detonator isn't working," He handed him the handset.

"I'll take care of it. It'll be fixed in no time, you guys get out of here!"

"Just make it fast, those droids are getting close." Rex said, following the others towards the pipelines.

Bliss was about to jump into the pipes when she realized that she was going to leave her brother behind. When everyone climbed inside, Bliss ran towards Hevy and stood on her knee next to him.

"Is it fixed?"

Hevy stayed silent as he was testing the detonator but the red light still shined on the panel. "It isn't working…"

"What are we gonna do?"

"We? Nothing! You need to get out, now!" Hevy snapped.

"No!" Bliss whisper shouted. "I'm not leaving you!"

Hevy grabbed her by the shoulder. "Bliss, your life is worth more than mine! If they lose another brother, it's okay. We can't lose our only sister."

Bliss was crying under her helmet, but she wouldn't ever say it out loud. Without even thinking, Bliss jumped forward and wrapped her arms around Hevy's neck, sniffling.

"I love you, Hevy… please don't die." Was all she said as she ran towards the grate and crawled through the pipelines, hoping he was going to follow… But to no avail. She heard him put the grate back over the vent duct and her heart dropped into her stomach.

As she began crawling faster, she heard gun fire coming from behind her. Forgetting about the drop from before, she ended up tumbling down head first and groaning in pain from a hit to the head. Bliss was waiting for the gunfire to flare up once again but it suddenly just stopped, and all there was, was silence.

Bliss was moving slowly, as her vision began to spin a little, trying to reach the end of the pipe in time before-

"Oh God!" She shouted as a huge explosion shook the entire pipe and fire began to pour into the line, making her crawl even faster to freedom. When she reached the end, she fell out of the pipe and onto the ground, whimpering like an injured animal.

"Bliss!" She looked up to see her brothers surrounding her. "Are you alright?"

Removing her helmet, Bliss' hand went to her head and she felt the sore spot just above where her tattoo started. "I can honestly say that I've been better, sir."

Rex laughed at her sarcasm and lifted her up so she wasn't laying down flat and looked at the spot on her head. For the moment, it was just white and red but soon, it would spread into a blue and purple bruise, no doubt.

"Get ready, boys. We're getting off this crater." The ships landed and Rex slowly helped Bliss to her feet and slung her arm around his shoulders, helping her limp towards the ship that opened up.

Bliss was looked over by a medic and they decided that she was okay. Looking down at her gloved hands, she began to shake and had to hold back tears. She may be a soldier, and a clone… But she was more emotional and attached than all of the others.

"Half of our squad… Our brothers… they all died…" She whimpered softly to herself. If anyone heard her, they ignored the words.

The fly up to the cruiser was very short and before she knew it, Bliss was being escorted to the medical bay. Fives and Echo weren't to follow her, which made her nervous. She didn't go many places without the presence of her brothers. But now that she gave it thought, she was surrounded by her brothers, right here… which attracted a lot of attention.

Almost every clone stopped what they were doing to stare at her. Bliss just waved awkwardly at them while they all waved back. The ones out of their helmets were smiling at her. It made her feel very welcome among her many brothers.

When she reached the medical bay, two troopers were sitting on medical beds in their body stockings with their armor at the foot of their beds.

The medical droid told Bliss to disrobe, which she did emotionless. Being nude in front of others was not something that she had problems with. She stood in her jumpsuit and the medical droid slipped the suit down her shoulder to check the damage of the blast. There were a few scrapes and burns on her neck and back, which were quickly treated with bacta rub. A salve was put on her skull and bandages were placed over her burns and cuts. When everything was all done, she sat in her bodysuit, looking down at her feet.

Losing so many brothers in such a short time was really weighing on her… What was she going to do without Hevy's constant presence looming over her shoulder, ready to jab her in the side just to rile her up? Or Droidbait's horrid jokes and how he believed he was so funny… Or Cutup's smart remarks and amazing kind and forgiving nature? She didn't know how her life was going to pan out from here.

Bliss' thoughts were cut short when in walked two men. She could tell from the way that they were dressed and how they presented themselves that they were Jedi. Jedi Generals.

"CT-8993, Bliss, is it?" The Jedi with the sandy blond hair spoke. Bliss stood up immediately and saluted them.

"Sir, yes sir." She spoke with obedience, but not the grunt that usually follows.

"At ease, trooper. You've been through a lot today." The one with dark brown hair instructed her. Bliss frowned at this but listened, sitting back down on the medical bed.

"I understand that you are to be assigned to a specific Jedi. To be with the 501st, correct?"

"Yes, sir. Anakin Skywalker, I believe. Is he on this cruiser?" Bliss questioned. The one with brown hair smirked at her.

"You're lookin' at him." A deep blush went across her cheeks as she realized that this was the Jedi she would be taking orders from for the rest of her life. This Jedi would be in charge of her… Pretty much everything.

"I've heard of your heroics on the outpost. I would be happy to serve with you on the front lines any day." Anakin Skywalker told her. Bliss couldn't help but blush even harder at his words. This was the highest praise she had ever received from a Jedi, except for General Ti.

"I am Obi-Wan Kenobi. This won't be the last you see of me, I assure you. Anakin and I still do many assignments together. I am still technically his superior." The other Jedi stated. Bliss bowed her head in respect to the other Jedi.

"And in a few hours, I want you to meet my Padawan, Ahsoka Tano. She's been excited to meet you since she heard you would be assigned to me." Anakin told Bliss who nodded in response.

"Thank you, Generals. I appreciate this more than you probably know."

The Jedi bowed to Bliss who stood up once again and saluted them. The Jedi exited the room and Bliss was left to finally let everything sink in… She wasn't an engineer on an outpost any longer… Bliss was a soldier. She would see things both amazing, and terrifying… She would risk her life for the Republic. For her brothers. Her family.

"This is where I belong…" And here, she will stay.


End file.
